The 18th-year big man was well aware of the challenge waiting on deck for him and wanted to save something in his aging, beat-up body.

The strategy couldn't have worked better as the 35-year-old caused Dwight Howard fits throughout and came up with a huge block to preserve the Warriors' 102-99 overtime victory Thursday night in front of a national TV audience.

"That's a guy with a million miles on his body, on the back nine of his career, but he's a true professional," Jackson said of O'Neal, who limited Howard to 4-of-13 shooting from the floor. "We are fortunate to have him - the way he conducts himself, the way he takes pride - and he deserved this night. It was a great win."

Howard made consecutive field goals for the first time all night to trim Houston's deficit to 96-95 at the 1:07 mark in overtime. After David Lee (28 points, 14 rebounds) missed at the other end, O'Neal willed himself to soar for one more titanic play, denying Chandler Parsons a go-ahead dunk with a ferocious block with 23 seconds on the clock.

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The Rockets were forced to foul Stephen Curry (25 points), who made two free throws to push the Warriors' lead to 98-95 with 15.9 ticks remaining. The teams traded free throws over the next 10 seconds, and Klay Thompson broke up a fullcourt pass with 4.9 seconds left to clinch it for the Warriors.

The Warriors blocked nine shots and had eight steals. They moved to 16-4 when limiting opponents to less than 40 percent shooting after holding Houston to 36.6 percent from the floor.

"We are a defensive-minded team, and it's great to see that we can win ballgames when we are not at our best offensively or we miss shots or things aren't going our way," Jackson said. "When you take the commitment to defend night in and night out, even against a team that creates a lot of challenges, you give yourself a chance to win. This was all about our defense."

Howard, who finished with 11 points and 21 rebounds, missed nine of his first 10 shots from the floor and had only three points through three quarters, giving the Warriors a chance in a game during which their offense struggled before coming up big in the clutch.

James Harden (39 points) gave Houston an 87-85 lead with a three-point play with 1:14 remaining in regulation, but Lee tied it, using a high-arcing layup over Howard with 57.9 seconds left. The Warriors forced a shot-clock violation on the Rockets' next possession and called a timeout with 34.1 seconds on the clock.

The Warriors found a mismatch with Lee in the post against Harden, but the Houston guard knocked the ball away as Lee was backing him down with 29.9 seconds left. Then Harden calmly drilled a step-back jumper to give the Rockets an 89-87 lead with 6.9 seconds remaining.

Curry flashed into the lane and fought off Howard for a tough, left-handed layup with 3.2 ticks left to tie the game for the sixth time. Harden's three-pointer over Draymond Green missed at the regulation buzzer.

"There were really so many big plays that we made, offensively and defensively, but obviously Steph's drive was huge at the end of regulation - after Harden makes big plays and takes the life out of the building," Jackson said.

It was a huge win for the Warriors (33-22), who had split their past 18 games. They managed to move within percentage points of sixth-place Phoenix in the Western Conference. The Rockets (37-18), who had won 19 of their previous 22 games against the Warriors, saw their season-best eight-game winning streak snapped and lost the second game of a back-to-back set for the first time in six such situations.

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